Marder III Ms

By Dirty Jon

Yet another deal from my main man Luke. I think he traded some boccage for these bad boys. Anyway, these Marder III Ms look pretty good - they were already painted - so I just cleaned these guys up a bit. I used some of the techniques in my German Camouflage tutorial. I think that these will be really good to have as an option for Mid and Late War.

In Grey Wolf, these guys run 4 for 255 - that is not too bad for some mobile AT. They are as thin as can be, but with Stormtrooper and being Veteran, I bet they can devastate from Ambush and scoot away. Even if they don't make it, they will still be a 5+ to hit in concealment. I love cheap mobile AT in Flames of War.

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Marder III Ausf.M, Sd.Kfz. 138 The last Marder III variant was based on the Panzer 38(t) Ausf. M (with Ausf. M standing for Mittelmotor (middle engine), again armed with the 75 mm PaK 40 anti-tank gun. In this variant, the engine was moved from the rear to the middle between driver and the rest of the crew. Because there was no engine in the rear, the gun and the crew did not have to sit on top of the engine deck as in previous models. The fighting compartment could be lowered down to the bottom floor level where the engine used to be. This decreased crew exposure, as well as visibility. Unlike the previous two Marder IIIs, the fighting compartment was closed at the rear protecting the crew up to their mid-section. It stayed open-topped. It could only carry 27 rounds of ammunition. The machinegun port at the front was eliminated in the Ausf. M in favor of an MG 34 or MG 42 carried by the crew. In the previous two models, the commander served as a gunner. However, in Ausf. M, the radio man moved to the rear with the commander and gunner, serving as a loader. Combat effectiveness increased because the vehicle commander was freed from manning the gun. The Ausf. M was the variant which was produced in the largest numbers, some 975 vehicles being manufactured in 1943 and early 1944. Its full name was the Panzerjäger 38(t) mit 7.5 cm PaK 40/3 Ausf.M, Sd.Kfz. 138.


You will notice that I have no crew! These guys were obtained without -- anyone got any spare? I bet Scary could 'scare' me up some.... (ha!)


A bit blurry, but these boys still pack a punch!


Only one of these came with the bar across the fighting compartment. I purchased some thick copper wire and made the other three. Can you pick out which one is original? Me either!


I went for a little weathering. It is hard to see in the pics, but I used some ripped blister packing and some Grey to give a bit of a worn effect near areas that would get heavy traffic.

IN FLAMES OF WAR

Name  weapon	Mobility  range	Front  ROF	Side  anti-tank	Top  Firepower	Equipment and Notes
Marder III M  7.5cm PaK40 gun	Standard Tank 32"	0 2	0 12	0 3+	AA MG Hull mounted

From Grey Wolf